The Ultimate Guide To Entering (And Winning) An Affordable Housing Lottery

If you live in a city with sky-high rent prices like New York or San Francisco, then affordable housing lotteries should absolutely be on your radar. These government-subsidized programs designate a number of units in certain buildings at a regulated monthly rent that's below market rate and intended to be accessibly priced for a range of budgets. "The definition of affordability is you pay no more than 30% of your total household monthly income toward rent," including utilities, social worker Elizabeth Purcell told Realtor.com. Available apartments are usually tiered based on applicants' income, assets, and the number of people living in their household — in other words, you might pay more in rent than someone who earns less money or has fewer assets than you, and vice versa. The programs are lottery-style, meaning that anyone who meets the eligibility requirements can apply, but winners are ultimately chosen at random.

Maybe you meet the income qualifications for this lottery or a similar program in a building in your city, and now you're curious about submitting an application before the deadline. If so, keep reading for everything you need to know about how to enter (and hopefully win) affordable housing. Best of luck!

First, you'll need to do some research into affordable housing lotteries in your area. Head to the official website for your city's government, or run a Google search. Once you've found some viable options, double-check the requirements to make sure that you qualify (and, you know... would actually want to live in that apartment if you got called). Then, apply online via the corresponding website. 

You can also get ahead of the game by compiling the many materials you'll need to provide for verification purposes should you get lucky and be chosen to rent an apartment. That may include pay stubs from your job, past bank statements and tax documents, proof of assets, proof of your rental history, and a copy of your birth certificate. While getting all your ducks in a row won't help you win, it will help expedite the eventual approval process, which can be extensive and time-consuming. Experts say it's not uncommon for lottery winners to bail just because they were intimidated by all the paperwork. 

After you've filed your application (or applications, plural), it's basically a waiting game. Either you'll get a request to submit the aforementioned documents for verification, or you'll never get a response because you weren't one of the selected applicants. It can take months to hear back, so you'll need to be patient. To maximize your chances of winning, apply to multiple lotteries in different buildings simultaneously. That's totally kosher. Try to be flexible and open-minded about the neighborhood or type of building, too, which can expand your options greatly. 

Are your odds of being chosen pretty low? Yeah, probably, especially if you live in a bustling, densely populated city like New York, where some 3.5 million people apply to housing lotteries each year. You might be given preference in the system if you have a disability, already live near the building, work for your city, or serve on your community board. Regardless, keep your docs handy and organized. And even if you don't hear back, keep your online profile up to date, and check your email periodically — you might have been added to the waitlist for vacancies in those buildings and could hear from them when current or future tenants leave.